1st National Student Congress of the Faculty of Education at Girne American University (GAU) in the  Turkish Republic of  North Cyprus(TRNC)

2-3 May 2024

In the 20th century, we were wondering and questioning what kind of century the 21st century would be. We predicted that the 21st century would be shaped differently by technological advances. The new century was described such as the space age, the information age, the age of young people. With rapid progress, industrialization has turned into digitalization, as we all see and experience. Digitalization has created the Cyber age. This great rate in the last seventy years is many times greater than that achieved in the previous seven thousand years of  human history.  However, the development created by humans has made fairy tales come true, but the human being has not developed and changed biologically and mentally. In the new century, the answer to the question of what can be done for humanity, who live with their basic instincts and cannot maintain peace and tranquillty among themselves, as has been the case since ancient times, will undoubtedly be education.

Until now, since gaining knowledge and experience required a lot of time and effort, middle-aged and older people could have a say in every field. However, in this century, young people who are born with technology can access information very quickly and, in addition to formal education, they can reach all over their country and the world in the field they want. Thus, they can improve themselves by receiving online or face-to-face education.  They can announce their knowledge and experience  to the world through new channels, without the approval of anyone or an institution, and pave their own path and determine their future. With this accumulation, they are rightfully ahead of the older generation. For this and many other reasons, this century is the age of young people. They will shape the future for themselves and for new generations.

As the Faculty of Educations, we see that  this wholesale, fabricated education,which was institutionalized to meet the demands and needs of the industrialization period, quickly educated the masses but ignored individual talents and demands. This does not meet the new age. There will definitely be a demand for wholesale education for some needs and fields in the new age, but many questions remain before us, such as what new equipment will meet the demands of the young generation and the Digital Age, as well as what equipment students who can access all kinds of information will demand from  teachers.  

As the teachers of the  Education Faculty, we decided to hold a student congress for two main  reasons. First of all, we aimed for our students to gain experience by organizing a scientific congress, to exppress their expectations from education and  for future plans in this congress, as well as to write and present papers with the knowledge they have  gained in their fields, to manage sessions and to hold  scientific discussions. In the century of young people, we aim to pave the way youth and take their hands in places where they are stuck.

First of all, I would like to thank to our rector, Prof. Dr. Ali Haydar, and our vice-rectors, who made our 1st international student congress possible. And also I would like to thank our general secretary, Aylin Ayhan, our marketmanager, Leyla Derin Biçer  as well as other officials for their contributions. Also I would like to express my thanks to all students and teachers of the faculty of education, and the teachers and students of other universities in our Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) who made our congress meaningful and rich with their participation. 

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